Physical and Environmental Geography Commons^™

Soil Development Processes On The Western Slope Of The Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains: A Geographic Study, Kristopher (Kris) Osterloh

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Ecology Of San Luis Obispo: A Children's Book, Heidi Van Campen

Social Sciences

San Luis Obispo is one of the most loved places in the world by its residents and visitors. Located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo is the heart of California's Central Coast. However, this paper is not about the present-day cities or residents. It is an ecological history; the story of life and land over time.

Historians tend to treat nature as the setting for history, rather than a participant. Ecology is a history written knowing that we shape our environment and it shapes us.

This is a story of the ecology of San Luis Obispo.

Defining The Regional And Seasonal Climatic Response Of Long Douglas-Fir Tree-Ring Chronologies In Central Mexico, Grant Howard West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Problems with instrumental climate data and difficulties arising from the distribution of sensitive, long-term tree-ring chronologies across Mexico's complex terrain have made it difficult to model the climate signal of tree-rings in Mexico. The objective of this research is to utilize the improved long-term, high-resolution, gridded instrumental climate dataset for Mexico recently developed by Zhu and Lettenmaier (2007) to document the climate signal of Douglas-fir in central Mexico. Through correlation analysis between five Douglas-fir tree-ring chronologies created by the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Tree-Ring Laboratory and Zhu and Lettenmaier's (2007) gridded historical climate dataset, this research aims to define the regional …

Assessing Seasonal Features Of Tropical Forests Using Remote Sensing, Roberto Bonifaz-Alfonzo

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tropical forests are key components of the biogeochemical cycles, complex in structure, diversity and dynamics, also, tropical regions have been deforested and modified by human activities particularly for agriculture. Understanding the inter-annual and intra-annual variation dynamics of tropical regions could give valuable information on temporal characteristics of ecosystems behavior which is important for mapping and monitoring. This dissertation assesses seasonal and inter-annual changes in the tropical land cover that may be related to changes in the natural environment and/or human activities. Research was focused on the Mayan forest located in southern Mexico and Northwest Guatemala, one of the northern-most important …

Gestión Invisible: Manejo De Recursos Naturales En Dos Comunidades Indígenas Peruanas, Aleah Goldin, Yazmin Nunez, David S. Salisbury, James Águila Soria, Raquel Espinosa Linares, Enzo Pinedo Ramírez, Luís Rosero Flores, Miguel Nuñez Sánchez, Gerardo Cavero Oroche, Jorge Vela Alvarado, Oscar Barreto Vásquez, Giraldo Almeida Villanueva, Carlos Pérez Alván

Geography and the Environment Poster Presentations

El 5 de junio de 2009, unas treinta personas murieron en Bagua, Perú en un enfrentamiento entre las autoridades gubernamentales y los pueblos indígenas. El evento denominado el "Baguazo", destaca el papel marginalizado de los indígenas amazónicos cuando se enfrentan a los intereses comerciales multinacionales respaldados por el Estado (Shepard, 2009). Los pueblos indígenas estaban protestando la "Ley de la Selva", el Decreto 1090, un decreto de 2009 asumiendo las tierras indígenas boscosas como improductivas, y que proporciona la base legal para privatizar los bosques comunales para facilitar la extracción de petróleo, los proyectos de biocombustibles, los proyectos hidroeléctricos y …

Invisible Occupation: Indigenous Natural Resource Management In The Peruvian Amazon, Aleah Goldin, David S. Salisbury, James Águila Soria, Raquel Espinosa Linares, Enzo Pinedo Ramírez, Luís Rosero Flores, Miguel Núnez Sánchez, Gerardo Cavero Oroche, Jorge Vela Alvarado, Oscar Barreto Vásquez, Giraldo Almeida Villanueva, Carlos Pérez Alván

Geography and the Environment Poster Presentations

On June 5th 2009, an estimated thirty people died in a clash between governmental authorities and indigenous people near Bagua, Peru. Termed the "Bagua Massacre," this event underscores the marginalized role of Indigenous Amazonians when confronting multinational commercial interests supported by the state (Shepard, 2009). The indigenous people were protesting the “Law of the Jungle,” Decree 1090, a 2009 decree assuming heavily-forested indigenous lands idle and unproductive, and providing the legal basis to privatize comunally-held forests to facilitate petroleum, biofuel, hydroelectric and logging projects. Since contact, the assumption of indigenous people unproductively managing their forested homelands has fueled colonization, deforestation, …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping Of Homestead National Monument Of America, Project Report, Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Homestead National Monument (HOME) was created at the to celebrate the significance of the Homestead Act of 1862 which granted 160 acres of free land to claimants and was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. The National Monument encompasses 184 acres in Gage County, west of Beatrice, Nebraska. This unique site also hosts the oldest prairie restoration in the National Park system, and the second-oldest tallgrass prairie restoration known. This park unit also has a small remnant of native tallgrass prairie and remnants of bur-oak forest.

A three-year …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping Of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Project Report, Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR) encompasses 10,894 acres in eastern Kansas, just north of Strong City. This park unit was created on November 12, 1996 and is the first to protect a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than four percent remains, primarily in the Flint Hills. The park unit is primarily rocky upland prairies and deep-soiled prairies in the lowlands. It also contains some wet prairie ravines, riparian forests and some former cropland and restored prairie. …

Evaluation Of The Sensitivity Of Inventory And Monitoring National Parks To Acidification Effects From Atmospheric Sulfur And Nitrogen Deposition, Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn), T. J. Sullivan, T. C. Mcdonnell, G. T. Mcpherson, S. D. Mackey, D. Moore

United States National Park Service: Publications

Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN)

National maps of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) emissions and deposition are provided in Maps A through D as context for subsequent network data presentations. Maps A and B show county level emissions of total S and total N for the year 2002. Maps C and D show total S and total N deposition, again for the year 2002.

There are three parks in the Northern Great Plains Network that are larger than 100 square miles: Badlands (BADL), Missouri (MNRR), and Theodore Roosevelt (THRO). In addition, there are 10 smaller parks.

Total annual S …

Increasing Efficiency In Boundary Security With Wireless Sensor Networks And Geospatial Information Systems Using Homology Theory, Luis Berumen^, Eric Chaidez^, Hamide Dogan*, Jose Gerardo Rosiles**

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

As part of an institutional investigation, we attempt to address the challenges the US customs and Border protection agency faces in the El Paso region. Our research focuses on defining a system for the surveillance application, and the use of mathematical models employed to achieve a greater efficiency of such architecture. With the use of the defined system, we apply homology theory through the algebraic process of topology, to accomplish an independent coordinate-free based system, which covers the surveillance area, with lesser quantity of sensor nodes. Our architecture makes the use of an operating system for wireless sensor networks; TinyOS, …

A Literary Analysis And Case Study Evaluation Of The Environmental, Cultural, And Economic Impacts Of Ecotourism, Ashley M. Driver

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Environmental Refugees, Katie L. Peters

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of The Sensitivity Of Inventory And Monitoring National Parks To Nutrient Enrichment Effects From Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn), T. J. Sullivan, T. C. Mcdonnell, G. T. Mcpherson, S. D. Mackey, D. Moore

United States National Park Service: Publications

Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN)

National maps of atmospheric N emissions and deposition are provided in Maps A and B as context for subsequent network data presentations. Map A shows county level emissions of total N for the year 2002. Map B shows total N deposition, again for the year 2002.

There are three parks in the Northern Great Plains Network that are larger than 100 square miles: Badlands (BADL), Missouri (MNRR), and Theodore Roosevelt (THRO). In addition, there are 10 other smaller parks.

Total annual N emissions, by county, are shown in Map C for lands in and surrounding …

Wallace-Mcharg’S Plans For Greater Baltimore, Garrett Power

Legal History Publications

This essay considers the growth of the partnership between David Wallace and Ian McHarg into one of the nation’s dominant urban design and environmental planning firms. It focuses on the firm’s undertaking in the Greater Baltimore region in the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s. With the benefit of fifty years of hindsight it looks at the successes and failures of their plans for Charles Center, the Green Spring and Worthington Valleys, and the Inner Harbor. Surprisingly, prize-winning innovations praised in one generation came to be judged as the design flaws of the next. Less surprisingly, their plans to “design with nature” …

Model Lessons To Use With The Student Atlas Of Oregon, Jane Bennett, Marilyn Soares, Zack James, Robert Wegner, Misty Connor, Elaine Nelson, Kerrie O'Brien, Heidi King, Elli Sussman, Kayla Mooney, Amanda Perrigo, Megan Wiltermood, Magda Abarca, Jonalee Vercher, Kaila Lamarche, Jason Manring, Kenneth Prowse, Aimee Saddler, Nick Clawson, Tony Ramos, Joyce Coskey, Katie Willey, Pam Salmons, Theresa Egan, Dezire Clarke, Beth Essex, Mark S. Walls, Erin Rhodes, Brianna Kibby, Margarita Herrera, Brittney Byrne, Courtney Shimabuku, Chrisa Collins, Brenda Victorio, Jacy Nerz, Mary Cordle, Katherine Bodi

Instructional Materials

Model lessons for teachers to use with The Student Atlas of Oregon.

Theorizing Scale In Critical Place-Name Studies, Joshua Hagen

Geography Faculty Research

Building on broader developments in critical social theory, geographers have made significant strides in explicating the assumptions, motivations, and values involved in place naming. This has led to an emphasis on understanding the processes involved in the inscription, subversion, and revision of place names. Despite the increasingly sophisticated approaches found in place-name studies, the field of toponymy occupies a relatively minor position in academic geography. There are varied and complex reasons for this marginality, but perhaps the most salient critique is that place-name research has been slow to engage broader developments in geographic and social theory.

Colorado's Large Snow Events' Impact On Tree Ring Growth And Dillon Reservoir, Katrina Leona Marzetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Meteorological observations from 1894 through 2010 suggest that 17 historically large snow events occurred in the mountains of Colorado within Denver's water supply region. Of these 16 events, 14 can be identified in precipitation sensitive tree ring records as positive climatic pointer years. If these storms were to occur today, they would have the potential to fill reservoirs in Denver Water's supply system, even after years of sustained drought. These "drought busters" have the potential to refill Dillon Reservoir by increasing average yearly inflow up to 146% of the previous year's inflow. Such drought busters can help Denver recover from …

Homestead National Monument, Vegetation Classification [Map], United States National Park Service

United States National Park Service: Publications

Color graphic vegetation map of Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. Created as part of the Homestead NM of America Vegetation Mapping Project in April and May 2011. Includes a color-coded vegetation classification.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Vegetation Mapping Project [Poster], Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve encompasses 10,894 acres in eastern Kansas, just north of Strong City. This park unit was created on November 12, 1996, and is the first to protect a nationally significant example of the once vast tall grass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles of tall grass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than four percent remains, prin1arily in the Flint Hills. The park unit is primarily rocky upland prairies and deep-soiled prairies in the lowlands. It also contains some wet prairie ravines, riparian forests and some former cropland and restored prairie. These …

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Vegetation Classification [Map], United States National Park Service

United States National Park Service: Publications

Colo vegetation map of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas, USA, from the Tallgrass Prairie NP Vegetation Mapping Project, created between April and June 2011. Includes a color-coded vegetation classification.